Three women 12 children cows rabbits and chickens all hiden behind the high wall where Osama bin Laden carved out a family life, set to the gentle rhythm of changing seasonal crops outside his house gate at Abbottabad Pakistan
On Tuesday Pakistani soldier took Mobile phone video footage which offered a final glimpse into a rustic simple life.A dozen eggs sitting in the kitchen sink, a few dishes on the side large wooden cupboards bare and open.
Bin Laden's last home ransacked by US Navy SEAL commandos in an overnight raid last Sunday in the foothills of Pakistan's Himalayan mountains was not the luxury pile as US reports suggested. The three-storey building that became the fugitive terror chief's last refuge was built in 2005 a white-walled square-built block without balconies resembling a small clinic more than a country mansion. People lived alongside the Al-Qaeda chief in his rural dwelling, included three of his wives and a dozen of their children.
At least five of them were killed during the US assault: Osama Bin Laden whose body was taken by the Americans, one of his sons, his two bodyguards -- known as the "Kwaitis" - and a woman, according to security sources.The survivors -- three women and their children -- are in Pakistani army detention. During interrogation, the youngest of the wives Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah a 29-year-old Yemeni, told investigators that Osama Bin Laden had lived in the villa for five years.Tuesday's footage gives a flavour of the lives led there organised by the "Kuwaitis" two brothers called Arshad Khan and Tariq who circulated around Abbottabad frequently.
These men who used false names were Pakistani despite their changed name, according to Pakistani media. Their father, who hails from the Islamist stronghold of Waziristan in the country's northwest was a friend of Osama Bin Laden.
The house chosen for Osama Bin Laden had grey tile floor slabs with austere concrete walls and stairs with old television sets suggesting a life devoid of luxury.
The bedroom of the Saudi-born terror chief, who lived on the top two floors of the house with his family, was no less basic and outside, the Osama Bin Laden raised chickens and grew vegetables in the shadow of their towering walls and tall poplar trees cultivating a life of near self-sufficiency.There weretwo cows, dogs, and over a hundred chickens, that's a lot. We could hear the chickens from our house," said Mohammad Qasim who lived next door. a Young neighbour, the young Zarar, 14, claims he once entered the property briefly.
"I saw two women who spoke Arabic, and they gave me a gift -- two rabbits," he said.
Only one man was, from time to time, allowed in the gardens: Shamrez Mohammad, the farmer in charge of feeding the animals and helping to grow the potatoes, cauliflower and other vegetables on the fertile land.
The army seized the house on Tuesday and has now emptied it and soldiers were likely to take the animals left behind to divide between themselves, said a neighbour.
Mohammad Kareem, a property agent in the area, said he saw "the soldiers chasing chickens" around the house on Monday. "They will share them out and eat them with their families," he said.
As for the two cows, he says they are probably on the way to a military-owned factory farm by now.The fate of the rabbits is still unclear.
According to sources familiar with jihadist networks, Osama Bin Laden was in poor health, with a kidney ailment that required medical care. But no neighbour recalls seeing regular visitors to the house.The terror chief instead was being treated successfully with natural remedies including watermelon she said.